Adult Onset Allergies

Romeo as a puppy had no allergies to speak of. Then, one day, he began chewing on his paws. So much so that he chewed his back paws raw. At first, I thought it was a nervous habit he had developed. I put bitter apple on, tried a bunch of holistic topical creams, but nothing worked to deter his chewing. Then he started to chew on his front paws. When I took him to the vet, she told me that it was an allergy to something in his environment. Probably grass, she said. A skin scrape (negative for mange or fungus), a cortisone shot, a course of antibiotics and prednisone, and Romeo was better.

But his antihistamine wasn't working for him. He began chewing on his paws again almost immediately. So I took him back to the vet and asked if we could try something different. She said to switch the antihistimine to something else. When I said I wanted something over the counter like Benedryl, she said to give Romeo about 1mg per pound twice a day. So now, we watch Romeo in the morning and at night for signs of bloodshot eyes or swollen eyes or feet, and in the summer, he gets a pill of Benedryl in the morning and one at night. He'll also get a pill if we know he's going to a park or a stable.

The Benedryl generally works, but sometimes it doesn't, and in the morning his paws will look like he chewed on them all night long. But his allergies are much more under control than they used to be. We also give him some holistic supplements and feed him specific food to help ease his itching (stuff that are high in omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids).

Here is an antihistamine chart that I found online to help you find the correct dosage of over the counter antihistamines for your dog. I'm not responsible for the dosage suggestions here (I'm not a vet), so please consult with your vet before giving your dog any medication. This chart was meant as a jumping off point for discussion with your vet. Every animal is different, so please if you have any concerns, bring it up with your friendly neighborhood vet.

Pet Food Recall Finally Hits Home

Natural Balance has recalled all of its Venison products, regardless of date and lot. More information can be found here: http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/press_release.html

I think we may have one can of this left for the cats. Do we throw it out or return it to Petco? Thing is, it's just one can.

The recall finally affects our food supply. At least that's just one of many brands that we use, and not a primary one at that. Romeo does eat Natural Balance rolls as treats, sometimes replacing a meal a day with the rolls, but I think we'll just journey on and watch them all carefully.

Signs to look for in your pets that they may have toxic things in their system according to our friendly neighborhood veterinarian: vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy, drinking more water than normal. If your pet displays any of these signs, bring them down to the vet. If you're worried but your pet does not show any of these signs, bring a urine sample down to your vet, and they can do a urine test to see if there is anything to be worried about.

So far, all pets are fine. Not even a hairball in the last week.

Pet Food Choices: Dry, Wet, Raw, and the "Rotation" Concept

I went to a "food seminar" put on by Nature's Variety about a month and a half ago, and while it was nothing more than a sales pitch for their various lines of dog and cat food, it did bring up a couple of points of thought and some interesting tidbits of information. Here are my thoughts on the following subjects:

Cats Need Water From Wet Foods
Everyone at the seminar seemed aware (except for yours truly) that the main affliction of the housecat has to do with the urinary tract. Housecats are apparently especially prone to kidney and bladder problems. So this is apparently due to cats not getting enough water.

Cats are desert animals. (This I knew.) They therefore don't drink as much water. (This I also knew.) What I didn't know was that cats that eat primarily dry kibble do not drink enough water. (Now I'm going to paraphrase catinfo.org) Cats eating dry kibble get half the amount of water from wet food. So, pet nutritionists reason, it is preferable for your cat's health, that if at all possible, you feed your cat only wet food.

Raw Foods
I'm still out to lunch on raw foods, although I do have a bag of Nature's Variety Raw Rabbit in the freezer now. The idea of raw food is that it most closely replicates what cats and dogs eat in nature and that feeding raw food as opposed to cooked food gives our pets more nutrients since the nutrients aren't cooked off.

The main issue that pet owners have against feeding raw (besides cost and ease) is bacterial infection and food poisoning. I think that raw feeding advocates don't have proper scientific studies to claim that cats and dogs are not as afflicted by salmonella and e coli and whatever else as humans are. I think that animals do in fact get food poisoning. As in humans, once you get food poisoning, there's really nothing to do except wait it out and let it pass. And in dogs and cats, since they have shorter digestive tracts, the wait itsn't as long. Also, dogs are known to be able to stand a lot of pain without vocalizing their suffering, so even if a dog is suffering, the owner may not know.

A secondary issue I have to feeding my pets only raw food is that I can't be sure on my own that my pets are getting the proper nutrition. Left on his own, Romeo would only eat the meat, leaving everything else there. This would make for an unbalanced diet if he got to do this all the time.

All that being said, I do give my dog (and the cats, even though they don't seem to enjoy raw at all) raw sometimes to vary his diet. I like carpaccio and sushi, so I don't see any harm in giving them raw sometimes. The caveat is that I give him the commercially prepared stuff or, if I'm preparing it from supermarket stuff, I flash-fry the exposed parts of the meat to kill of any germs that may be on the meat. Searing the exposed parts of the meat kills the bacteria that may be living on the surface while preserving the raw nutrition benefits.

Variety in Diet
Nature's Variety promotes "rotation" of their foods. This I wholly advocate. I primarily feed my dog and cats either Innova Evo or Nature's Variety Raw Instinct dry kibble because of its high protein content and superior quality ingredients. Let's face it, it's easy to feed dry kibble. I look for foods that are at least 30% protein for Romeo and 40% protein for the cats. For the cats, additionally, I look for kibble without grains. This is particularly hard because dry kibble needs binders. Innova Evo uses potato, Nature's Variety Raw Instinct uses tapioca.

I feel it's important to vary the cats' and the dog's diet. First, I think it's boring for them to have to eat the same food all the time. Romeo and Jezebel in particular don't like eating the same things all the time, and they noticeably get bored with the food.

Second, it's better for their digestive systems. The reason that you have to switch over to new foods slowly is because the pets' digestive system has only been eating one thing the entire time. If you only ate one thing, and suddenly you ate something totally different, trust me, your system would rebel as well. Romeo doesn't have this problem, and I think it's in part because he eats something different every day with his dry kibble. I can also switch Jezebel, Sambora, and Romeo on a whim to another food without there being problems.

Third, there's a lot of talk about development of food allergies. I think that by keeping digestive systems and their palates robust (you don't want them to want only one food) , if a food allergy develops, you can easily switch their foods out with little difficulty.

Romeo's Teeth are Now Bright White!

This past weekend was a full, eventful weekend for Romeo. Not only did Romeo try herding for the first time (more on that later) and go play frisbee, Romeo got his teeth cleaned for the first time ever!

The American Veterinary Dental Society reports that by age 3, 80% of dogs and 70% of cats show signs of dental disease. Rocco has been getting anesthesia free teeth cleanings from a dental hygenist every six weeks, and my sister has been raving about the service. All my pets, despite my best efforts to brush their teeth, have noticeable tartar buildup and somewhat stinky breaths (you might know it to be dog breath or cat breath - it's actually just bad breath). I've been putting off doing the veterinary dental cleaning for them because, well, it's really expensive.

When I saw a sign for an anesthesia-free teeth cleaning clinic at Steve's Pets in Altadena (2395 Lake Avenue, Altadena, CA, 626-798-6290) by SmilePet (number below), I decided to give it a shot with Romeo. Now, with anesthesia, teeth cleaning at the vet's office can cost anywhere between $200-$300+, depending on your vet. So at $75, this was what I considered quite a deal. I decided Romeo should be the first even though he doesn't have the worst teeth out of all my pets -- he is the youngest, after all -- because dogs have shorter memories than cats and are far more forgiving of people. So Romeo got to be the guinea pig, and off we went for our appointment. It took about 40 minutes, and Romeo's teeth are now amazingly white! His breath smells better and all the icky yellow buildup on his teeth is gone! His gums, which were beginning to look inflamed, are starting to look normal again.

SmilePet isn't the only service out there, obviously. Rocco gets maintenance visits instead of a more involved teeth cleaning every six months (which is what most dental hygenists around here do or recommend). I did a lot of digging around, and these are the resources that I've confirmed exist (as of the time of this post, of course). Romeo will be going back to Kathy of SmilePet, as she did such a great job with him.

As a total disclaimer, do this at your own risk. Some dogs and cats need more work than what these dental hygenists can do without anesthesia, and some dogs and cats are too high strung to let a dental hygenist do this without being sedated. Check out the person before you go - this list is meant to be inclusive as a resource for you to find a good person to care for your pets and is not indicative of any sort of endorsement on my part. I'll add more to this list as I hear about them or run across them. The only person on this list we can attest to is Kathy of SmilePet, and we attest that Romeo's teeth are dramatically cleaner than before and that she didn't hurt him. That's all I'll swear to under oath.

ANESTHESIA-FREE TEETH CLEANING FOR DOGS AND CATS
(Los Angeles/Orange County/Southern California)

SmilePet (Kathy, 866-628-9745)
Makes housecalls and holds clinics from Los Angeles to San Diego. Kathy holds a clinic at Steve's Pets in Altadena (2395 Lake Avenue, Altadena, CA, 626-798-6290) every 6-8 weeks for $75 a pet. Call Steve's Pets to make an appointment. Romeo's had his teeth cleaned by her and his teeth are now bright white!

Houndstooth (Kathy (I think a different one), 877-309-8849, pettoothfairy@yahoo.com)
Makes housecalls to San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles (City and County), and Orange County). Price depends on type of pet and distance traveled. Also takes office visits in Chatsworth for $80 a pet.

The Tooth Fairy LLC (Shane, 818-988-3443, shane@thetoothfairyllc.com)
Housecalls only to most of Los Angeles county. Rates vary by type of pet.

Pearlie Whites (Dana, 818-667-5747, dana@pearliewhites.com)
Makes housecalls and takes office visits in Encino. Rates vary by type of pet, distance traveled, etc.

Gental Dental (JoEllen, 800-264-3094, petinfo@gentledentalforpets.com)
Housecalls around the Long Beach/South Bay area. Call for availability in your area. Rates vary. Holds teeth cleaning days at Wags to Whiskers in Long Beach (5505 Stearns St., Long Beach, CA, 562-430-5161) on the 1st Tuesday and 4th Saturday of the month for $85 a pet.

Bathe R Doggie (626-795-7777)
Pasadena, CA, based pet grooming salon. Anesthesia-free teeth cleaning available every other Sunday, by appointment only. Price ranges from $65-95, depending on the pet.

MDR1 Gene Mutation and Drug Sensitivity in Collie Breeds

I have been reading up on potential drug sensitivity of collie breeds due to a mutation in the MDR1 gene, whatever that means. Basically, from what I gathered, a significant number of collies and collie-related breeds like the Australian shepherd (Romeo!) have a mutation in this gene, which makes them sensitive to many common drugs, including heartworm medication.

More information can be found at the following links:
Drug Sensitivity in Collies - very clear information about the mutation.
Buster Alert - not as clear, but good anecdotal information, as well as a drug list

You can order the test from Washington State and administer the test yourself, which costs about $50 less than if the vet were to do it. That's the route I'm taking with Romeo! For more information on that: http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/depts-VCPL/

On a related note, here's an interesting article about how collies and sighthounds might be related due to research surrounding the MDR1 gene mutation: Collies have surprising relatives - Pet Health - MSNBC.com

Pet Food Snobbery

Joel has called me a snob when it comes to my pets' food. And it's true. I go to little boutiques where they sell nothing but holistic and/or ultra-premium pet foods. I have driven 20 hours out of my way to buy pet food. Never mind there's a Petsmart not 3 miles away and a Petco not 5 miles away. I just mail-ordered for 11lbs of cat food because I can't find anywhere convenient around here to buy this new formulation.

I have to say that I used to feed my cats and my dog Science Diet because my vet said it was the best. For the first year of her life, Jezebel ate nothing but Science Diet and Purina and she is just fine. To this day, I am sure that you can feed Jezebel crap and she'd still be fine. Then I learned about the Iams Cruelty case, and while I'm not against animal testing and I'm no great lover of PETA, I believe that what has been documented far exceeds what is necessary to make dog and cat food. But the Iams thing made me look closer at what I was feeding my cats, and I was appalled, simply appalled, to learn what major commercial brands put in pet foods. But really, it was Sambora that started the whole conversion to human-grade, holistic, ultra-premium, sometimes organic food.

Sambora is, to put it kindly, big-boned. And he loves to eat crunchy dry food. When Sambora hit 16 lbs., the vet told us to put him on a diet. So I switched him to Science Diet Light. No problem, right? Except he started eating Jezebel's food, and Jezebel, as a result, started eating his. So I put him on another diet food, which solved the problem of Sambora eating Jezebel's food, but he started getting diarrhea a lot. Reading up on it, I learned that cats shouldn't have too much fiber or carbohydrates, because it messes with their systems. I also learned that cats were obligate carnivores and that carbohydrates weren't good for kitties. They, unlike dogs and humans, were not made to digest carbohydrates.

So cats are pure carnivores, but most store brands have grains as the first few ingredients. Why? I believe that commercially made dry cat food was made as an offshoot of dry dog food, and that dog formulations are only changed somewhat to meet the nutritional minimums of cats. So in today's market, you will find a lot of dry kibble labeled "for cats" when it is not actually designed for a cat's needs. And I'm just a little bit pissed that there are a lot of high-performance, high-protein dry foods for dogs, but to date, I have only found two over 40% protein for cats: Innova Evo for Cats and Nature's Variety Raw Instinct Grain Free for Cats. Dogs, unlike cats, are omnivores and they don't actually need high-protein diets like cats do.

Let's face it. If a cat cannot properly digest complex carbohydrates or plant-derived proteins, it's useless to feed these things to the cat. Nothing good can come of it.

The vet had recommended a wet food, Atkins like diet for Sambora, which would have been great for both cats except that Sambora doesn't really care for wet food. It's also very convenient to also just scoop out some dry food for the cats every morning. Innova Evo for Cats, made by Natura Pets, works well for us, although the cats will try the Nature's Variety once we get it in the mail. They're both 50% protein and as close to what a cat needs in commercial dry kibble as possible. The cats are supplemented with grain-free wet food (currently that includes Merrick's Turducken formulation, Innova Evo for Cats, and various Wellness flavors).

And since it's easy for me since I'm already going hunting around for food for the cats, Romeo gets ultra-premium, holistic, sometimes organic, human-grade food as well. With him, I'm not so concerned that he gets a high-protein diet, since, again, dogs are omnivores and it's not as important that they get a high-protein meal, although right now he's regularly fed a high-protein dry kibble (Innova Evo and Innova Evo RM) at supplemented with a whole lot of fruits and other things. He also has a bunch of Lotus dry kibble (not high protein), which he adores as well. It's mainly important to me that Romeo's food is made of high-quality ingredients that are good for him and that he like eating the food. So that means no by-products, no corn, no "animal digest," whatever that is, no white rice or "brewer's rice." One can find a complete list online. Or I'll find one later to post.

So now, when going to a pet supply store, I take forever looking at different foods, the ingredient list, and their nutritional breakdowns. Because while I'm too lazy to cook my animals food on a regular basis, I can at least be a smart enough shopper. I don't feed my pets raw for the same reason I don't eat things raw at home - human handling = germs. While other people do and I applaud their efforts to keep their pets healthy and I'm sure they keep their animals' raw feed and feeding environment as sterile as possible, I don't buy that cats and dogs are able to handle salmonella better than humans. In fact, I believe that feeding cats and dogs only one or two things their whole lives weakens their internal digestive systems and weakens their immune systems in general (hence the whole having to switch food over a long period of time).

There is some correlation between lower grades of pet food and internal problems with pets, including tumors and digestive issues. Again, I believe that if I were to continue to feed my pets food that they could not process appropriately, nothing good could come of it. Moreover, since there is less "filler" in the more expensive foods, they are more nutritious bite for bite, and at the end of the day, it doesn't really cost more to buy the higher premium foods because they eat less of it. This has a secondary effect of having less for me to clean up after they poop. And only good things can come of that.